The physics that underlies Star Trek is surely worth investigating. Nevertheless, today's science fiction is often tomorrow's science fact. For this reason, scientists working in this field have to disguise their real interest by using technical terms like "closed timelike curves" that are code for time travel. Imagine the outcry about the waste of taxpayers' money if it were known that the National Science Foundation were supporting research on time travel. One of the consequences of rapid interstellar travel would be that one could also travel back in time. There has not been much serious scientific research along these lines, however, partly, I think, because it sounds too much like science fiction. Although there are problems of negative energy, it seems that such warping might be within our capabilities in the future. Fortunately, Einstein's general theory of relativity allows the possibility for a way around this difficulty: one might be able to warp spacetime and create a shortcut between the places one wanted to visit.
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